Signed DHHCW Registration Form (emailed to you after you complete online form)

Official Optimist Participation Form

Audiogram

Consent form signed by parents for student attending any event in DCW(emailed to you after you complete online form)

Consent form signed by EACH adult attending any event in DCW(emailed to you after you complete online form)

Funding Form (if you are requesting funding)

Scan/email to office@popdhh.ca; emails are preferred if possible. Alternatively, you can fax your forms to 604.296-9063. Please call the office to confirm that we have received your forms if you have faxed them. For questions, call our office at 604.296-9062.

Yes. We will provide financial support to school district staff needing to accompany the student. Additional staff funding approval is determined on an individual basis. Submit the Funding Form for consideration.

If you need to fly in to the event, you have the choice of booking the flight yourself; or, if your request to POPDHH for funding has been approved, we can book the flight for you. Register online here and our office will call you regarding flight information.

Once your POPDHH funding form has been approved, you will be reimbursed after the event once receipts are submitted.

If you are local (GVRD), you need to organize your own transportation. However if cost is a burden, you can apply for funding by submitting a district funding form for our consideration.

The Outreach program is planning some activities for out-of-town students only (not local students) on Education Day. This will free up itinerant teachers to attend the Itinerant Conference being offered. If students are with an aide or interpreter, they would be expected to accompany the student for the day.

Registration for all events is through our main registration page
here.

Please email Kim Block at office@popdhh.ca if you have any further questions.

This depends on your situation. Some people like to book their own flights and then get reimbursed afterwards. They prefer to have control over when they fly, which airline, etc. Other people are flying with many students and do not want a huge charge on their credit card.

If you ask for funding support for your hotel, we will book it. You won't have a choice on your roommate; groupings are based on same-gender. The students will be grouped together in some rooms and the parents and educational staff will be grouped together in other rooms; adults will not be sharing rooms with students.

If you want your own room, then you can book and pay for the hotel yourself.

If you are seeking funding, all funding requests must be made through our POPDHH funding form (click here to download)

No, our event entrance fees are FREE. There may be costs in addition to traveling, food, etc. If any additional costs cannot be covered by your school district, then you can apply for limited funding support using our POPDHH funding form. Once approved, you will be reimbursed.

There are 6 prizes to be won at the local level of the competition: 3 winners in the ASL category and 3 in the Oral category.

1st place winners from past years are not eligible to compete again or win any scholarship/prize.

2nd and 3rd place winners from past years are eligible to compete for the 1st place scholarship but will not receive any prizes if they receive 2nd or 3rd place again.

All other past participants who have not won any prizes/scholarships are welcome to compete again.

PRIZES

February 19, 2018: We have recently received confirmation from the Pacific Northwest Optimist planning committee that the district level competition usually held in May in the USA has been moved to Vancouver. They have decided to award the prize money for the district level at the local level. The $150 honoraria have now been replaced with a district level scholarship of $2,500 each for the Oral and ASL categories.

All participants will receive a certificate of participation.

1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners will receive a medallion.

1st place winners in the Oral and ASL categories will each receive $2,500 scholarships and an iPad.

You can read all the rules on the Official Optimist Participation Form form (click here to obtain form). Detailed rules, judges' criteria, scorekeeping and other information can be downloaded from the Optimist website.

Winners have the opportunity to go on to win more prizes when they compete at the next level of the competition at the Pacific Northwest District Oratorical Contest. The district level contest is in Vancouver, WA on May 11 & 12, 2018. All winners must have a passport in order to cross the US border.

Select the better ear, i.e. the ear in which the student has better hearing. Take the pure-tone average from the student's audiogram of 500, 1000, 2000, 4000 and 8000 frequencies for that ear (add the numbers for those frequencies and divide by 5). If the result is 40 dB or greater, the student qualifies. For students with a CI, the ear without the CI must meet the 40 dB or greater criteria.